Things aren't going well in Baltimore...

At least 27 shootings and eight deaths over Memorial Day weekend...

Via Daily Caller

Baltimore has seen 27 shootings and eight deaths so far over Memorial Day weekend, as the month of May promises to be the most violent the city has seen this century.
“It is disheartening that we are seeing such an increase in violence, especially when we think about the progress that we’ve made,” Baltimore mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake told WJZ. “We’ve come too far to have this type of setback.”
The sharp uptick in violence coincided with the April 12 arrest of Freddie Gray. Gray, 25, died in police custody a week later. The case sparked rioting and looting in the city and nationwide protests over police brutality. Six officers involved in Gray’s arrest and transport were indicted last week by a grand jury. Charges include second-degree depraved-heart murder and manslaughter.
According to Baltimore Sun reporter Justin Fenton, crime in the city has reached levels not seen since 1999.
The city did not reach the 100 murder threshold until July last year.
Keep on reading

Grand Jury indicts 6 Baltimore police; drops false imprisonment charges (list of new charges)...

They grand jury kept the 2nd degree murger charge against the police van driver and added a reckless endangerment charge against some of the officers.

Here are the revised charges against the 6 Baltimore cops over Freddie Gray's death, as announced by @MarilynMosbyEsq pic.twitter.com/KBE06VoVSN

— Jon Swaine (@jonswaine) May 21, 2015

Baltimore Woman: ‘We Don’t NEED NO CURFEW! We GROWN ASS People!’

Well, alrighty then...

FOP GoFundMe page for accused officers suspended...

Apparently our GoFundMe account has been suspended with no explanation. We are working to find a new site for donations. Thank you!

— Baltimore City FOP (@FOP3) May 1, 2015

I was wondering if GoFundMe would leave the page up.

Via City Paper

It hasn’t been a good day for the Baltimore Fraternity Order of Police Lodge 3 (FOP). The police union published a public letter this morning that asked State’s Attorney Marilyn Mosby to assign a special prosecutor to investigate Freddie Gray’s death and included a subtle threat to the political career of her husband, City Councilman Nick Mosby, only to have Marilyn Mosby announce charges against six officers a few minutes later. Baltimore citizens celebrated in the streets when the charges were announced, and Mosby got a flood of press coverage, with a New York Times headline announce she is “Seen as Tough on Police Misconduct” and a New York magazine post calling her a “certified bad ass.”
Then, FOP published a blog post on its website later in the day, saying that it had “been overwhelmed with the enormous generosity of people from around the world” and was trying to start an online fundraiser to “assist our [six charged] officers with their living expenses during their unpaid suspension. [sic] as well as to help defray their legal expenses.”
Keep reading

Six Baltimore Officers Booking Photos

Top (left to right): Alicia White, Brian W. Rice and William G. Porter
Bottom (left to right): Edward M. Nero, Garrett E. Miller and Caesar Goodson

Van witness does not believe Gray broke his own neck, fears for his life because of police lying...

It's hard to imagine how someone crushes their larynx and severs their spine banging their own head against a closed van door. The police officer who was driving the van made a stop he did not report and is now refusing to be interviewed. 

Via CBS Baltimore:

“I am Donta Allen. I am the one who was in the van with Freddie Gray,” Allen said.
The one who the police commissioner calls the second prisoner in the van.
“The second prisoner who was picked up said that he didn’t see any harm done to Freddie at all,” Commissioner Anthony Batts said. “What he has said is that he heard Freddie thrashing about.”
But Allen wants to set something straight.
“All I did was go straight to the station, but I heard a little banging like he was banging his head,” he said.
He tells WJZ he’s angry about an internal police report published in The Washington Post.
“And they trying to make it seem like I told them that, I made it like Freddie Gray did that to hisself (sic),” Allen said. “Why the [expletive] would he do that to hisself (sic)?”
Allen was in the van because he allegedly stole a cigarette from a store on North Avenue.
He was never charged. Instead he was brought straight to the station.

How can the police arrest someone, throw them in the back of a van and not charge them when they get to the station? 

Rasmussen on Baltimore Riots: 63% characterize it as mostly criminals taking advantage of the situation

There is certainly that element.There are better ways to protest than looting and burning down your neighborhood.

Via Rasmussen:

Americans view the recent rioting in Baltimore as criminal behavior, not legitimate protest, and think it will only worsen the criminal justice situation in the city.
The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey finds that just 25% of American Adults consider the mob violence in Baltimore that followed the funeral of a black man who died in police custody to be primarily legitimate outrage. Sixty-three percent (63%) instead characterize it as mostly criminals taking advantage of the situation. Twelve percent (12%) are not sure...

Tweet of the Day: Baltimore Mayor Threw Business Owners Under the Bus...

Well, Democrats do hate businesses...

.@LelandVittert reports senior law enforcement source told him @MayorSRB said, ”Let them loot, it's only property." pic.twitter.com/YruIjVIC2k
— Fox News (@FoxNews) April 29, 2015

Stupid: : CNN Anchor Blames U.S. Military Vets For Baltimore Riots, “They Came Home Ready For Battle”…

Video: Hero mom slaps some sense into rioting son...

Friday Video: Cars, Street Slide Into Baltimore Sinkhole

ABC 6: Must-See Video - Cars, Street Slide Into Sinkhole

White tourist being beaten, robbed and stripped in downtown Baltimore. Al Sharpton nowhere to be seen. (video)

The victim was white and, from what can be seen on the video, the attackers were black. This happened on St. Patrick's Day. Where is the outrage from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson? I know I will never be in Baltimore after seeing this video. Warning: This video is disturbing.

Police State Alert: Baltimore Police can't arrest you for videotaping them anymore, but there is always loitering

Baltimore Police have been prohibited from arresting people for videotaping them doing their job on a public street. Their response is to threaten to arrest people for loitering if they break out the cell phone camera.

When tech enterpreneuer Scott Cover happened upon a group of Baltimore Police standing over a handcuffed man near Cross Street market early Saturday, he pulled out his camera phone and started recording. Earlier in the day, he'd seen news reports of the Police Department affirming citizens' right to record officers performing their duties in public, and thought what was happening might - who knows - make for interesting video.

It's a scene that plays out regularly on Cross Street in Federal Hill as officers try to disperse late-night crowds. The officers will tell you that the patrons - with or without cameras - refuse to leave, and that everyone within earshot is an armchair expert on police techniques and seconds away from potentially inciting a riot. The bargoers will say the cops are often unnecessarily rude and aggressive, and don't want to be watched or filmed being unnecessarily rude and aggressive.

The officers on Saturday got Cover to stop filming, not by telling him to cease recording or seizing his camera. They told him he was loitering, and that he had to move along or risk arrest.
It's a caveat - some might say loophole - in the new general order publicly trotted out by police on Friday, three days before they're due in court to argue in a lawsuti brought by the ACLU that they are properly addressing citizen's right to record.